Five Damascus High School JV Football Players Face Rape Charges after Alleged Hazing Incident

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Five Damascus High School JV Football Players Face Rape Charges after Alleged Hazing Incident

Arrests stem from reports of hazing by players

BY GLYNIS KAZANJIAN | Published: 2018-11-02 16:16

MONTGOMERY COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Updated at 3:48 p.m. Saturday: Five Damascus High School students are facing rape charges after an alleged hazing incident that occurred in the boys locker room after school was dismissed Oct. 31, according to authorities.

Three students were arrested Thursday evening and each was charged with one count of second-degree rape and one count of attempted second-degree rape, according to Montgomery County police. On Friday, two additional students were charged by police. One student was charged with three counts of second-degree rape and another student was charged with one count of attempted second-degree rape, police said Friday.

All of the Damascus students charged are members of the junior varsity football team, according to a letter released Saturday from Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Jack Smith. ... Police have identified four male students at the school as the alleged victims. They are also believed to be members of the JV football team. Following police protocol, their identities will not be released.
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“Not only can these rumors be hurtful, but they can also be a distraction to the investigation,” Smith wrote. “If you believe you have information regarding the alleged incident, please contact the Special Victims Division of the Montgomery County Police at 240-773-5400.”
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[dawg day]

1. There was an incident of this in a wealthy suburb in my county-

I don't want to go into details because it was awful. Point is, though, it happened on the team bus with the coach right there.
The rapists were white. The victim was not. They were also older (juniors and seniors) while this was his first season on the team.

Apparently this is a thing, though, among some high school teams. They call it "hazing." I'm glad the prosecutor called it rape.

[Iggo]

2. Oh, high school jocks. Wonderful little human beings, ain't they.

[mikehiggins]

3. This kind of thing is just flat out weird

When I was in High School I did some time as (honest) a water boy. ALso helped move the play markers with the refs. I had no athletic ability but really wanted to get a varsity letter, so...
Anyway, while there was lots of teasing and stuff in the locker room and showers it was inconceivable that anyone would touch another boy vis a vis hazing. There were physical fights at times and things like that but stuff like we keep seeing of late was unheard of. I imagine that if anyone tried this kind of stunt they would've gotten the crap beaten out of them and been ostracized in the school, and certainly booted off the team. I guess it was a more innocent time BUT the coaching staffs and so on at these schools have to take responsibility for allowing it. Nothing in high school sports occurs in a vacuum. If anyone knows, everyone knows. Same for colleges and even the Olympics. If it happens, someone in power allowed it to happen, just like Sandusky in Penn State.
Maybe team sports should just be eliminated across the board, despite all the money it generates.
Something to think about...

[mahatmakanejeeves]

4. "Stop, stop, stop": Police report describes alleged sex assaults in JV football locker

Public Safety

‘Stop, stop, stop’: Police report describes alleged sex assaults in JV football locker room

By Dan Morse and Donna St. George
November 6 at 7:12 PM

The sexual assaults of four high school football players in Maryland last week were part of a hazing ritual at Damascus High School involving a broomstick, according to the accounts of suspects and victims detailed in a police report about the allegations. ... The suspects, members of the junior varsity squad, attacked teammates in a locker room after turning off the lights, according to the report.

They pinned down two victims during the assault, according to the six-page incident report, which had not been made public but was obtained by The Washington Post. A 14-year-old boy could be heard screaming, then a 15-year-old boy cried and called out, “Stop, stop, stop,” according to the report. Two other targets were allegedly forced to the ground but managed to fight off the attacks.

The alleged attacks took place last Wednesday, on Halloween, in a locker room after school was dismissed at Damascus High, a football powerhouse on the northern end of suburban Montgomery County.

The incident report, written by Detective Dana Williams of the Montgomery County Police Department, describes interviews with the reported victims, who said they previously had heard about broomstick attacks but were uncertain about whether the accounts were genuine. ... One of the boys allegedly attacked “reported that when he was in middle school, he heard about ‘brooming,’ but thought that it was a myth,” Williams wrote. Then the teenager was attacked, the report states, and he pleaded with teammates to stop, but they told him it was a “tradition.”
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Dan Morse covers courts and crime in Montgomery County. He arrived at the paper in 2005, after reporting stops at the Wall Street Journal, Baltimore Sun and Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser, where he was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. He is the author of "The Yoga Store Murder." Follow https://twitter.com/morsedan

Donna St. George writes about education for The Washington Post, where she has been a reporter since 1998. She previously worked at the Philadelphia Inquirer and the New York Times. Follow https://twitter.com/donnastgeorge

[mahatmakanejeeves]

5. 'Astonishingly cruel.' Prosecutor describes locker room sex assault case at Damascus High School

Public Safety

‘Astonishingly cruel.’ Prosecutor describes locker room sex assault case at Damascus High School

By Dan Morse and Donna St. George
November 26 at 9:20 PM

When the sophomore football players entered the freshman locker room, authorities say, one held up a four-foot broom. He pumped his fist and chanted. ... Lights went off. The handle of the broom could be heard banging against a wall. ... “It’s time,” another sophomore said. ... One of the freshmen tried to leave. A sophomore blocked him from doing so.

This prelude — as described by prosecutors in court on Monday — came before what authorities said was a terrifying series of sexual assaults against four teammates on Oct. 31 inside a locker room at Damascus High School in Maryland.

Four 15-year-old suspects, making their first appearance in Montgomery County District Court on Monday, have each been charged with one count of first-degree rape, three counts of attempted first-degree rape and one count of conspiracy to commit first-degree rape. They were all members of Damascus’s junior varsity team, as were four alleged victims.
....

Dan Morse covers courts and crime in Montgomery County. He arrived at the paper in 2005, after reporting stops at the Wall Street Journal, Baltimore Sun and Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser, where he was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. He is the author of "The Yoga Store Murder." Follow https://twitter.com/morsedan

Donna St. George writes about education for The Washington Post, where she has been a reporter since 1998. She previously worked at the Philadelphia Inquirer and the New York Times. Follow https://twitter.com/donnastgeorge